Despite wet track conditions, low temperatures and strong winds blowing, World Supersport riders were on track this afternoon for the first qualifying session of Round 5 at Donington Park. While some of the front-runners in the standings kept in the respective garages for most of the session, the rest of the field put up a good challenge as the tarmac conditions improved slightly during the 45 minutes.

Current Championship leader Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) waited until the very last minutes to enter the track and top the timesheets - courtesy of a 1'43.642 lap-time - ahead of reigning and defending Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki), who's seeking retribution after last round's DNF. Lowes mastered perfectly the Leicester track in difficult conditions, putting a 1.116 seconds gap between himself and the 3-time World Champion in the process.

Although being declared fit to ride, Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport) and Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki) decided to stay out of trouble and didn't get on track. South African Mathew Scholtz (Suriano Racing Team Suzuki), joined this weekend by new team mate Alex Baldolini, finished 3rd followed by 2007 125cc World Champion Gabor Talmacsi (Prorace Honda) and the winners of yesterday's Pre-event Jack Kennedy (Rivamoto Honda) and Christian Iddon (ParkinGo MV Agusta Corse).